Abstract
Traditional medicine and diet has served mankind through the ages for prevention and treatment of most chronic diseases. Mounting evidence suggests that chronic inflammation mediates most chronic diseases, including cancer. More than other transcription factors, nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) and STAT3 have emerged as major regulators of inflammation, cellular transformation, and tumor cell survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Thus, agents that can inhibit NF-κB and STAT3 activation pathways have the potential to both prevent and treat cancer. In this review, we examine the potential of one group of compounds called triterpenes, derived from traditional medicine and diet for their ability to suppress inflammatory pathways linked to tumorigenesis. These triterpenes include avicins, betulinic acid, boswellic acid, celastrol, diosgenin, madecassic acid, maslinic acid, momordin, saikosaponins, platycodon, pristimerin, ursolic acid, and withanolide. This review thus supports the famous adage of Hippocrates, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.
Highlights
Natural compounds have been used extensively in the treatment of many diseases and are of interest to researchers both in their natural forms and as templates for synthetic modification
Chronic inflammation has been linked with most chronic illnesses, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, pulmonary disease, and neurologic disease [5], the current review focuses on the role of triterpenoids in targeting inflammatory pathways for prevention and treatment of cancer
As more than 20,000 triterpenoids are available in nature and it is difficult to describe them all, this review summarizes what we know of a few triterpenoids with structural similarity, including avicin, erythrodiol, madecassic acid, maslinic acid, momordin, saikosaponins, 2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9(11)-dien-28-oic acid (CDDO) and its methyl ester CDDO-Me, platycodon D, withanolide, diosgenin, betulinic acid, boswellic acids, pristimerin, and celastrol (Figure 3); their active moieties for anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity
Summary
Natural compounds have been used extensively in the treatment of many diseases and are of interest to researchers both in their natural forms and as templates for synthetic modification. Evidence from tissue culture, animal, and clinical studies suggests that more than 20,000 triterpenoid-rich fruits are found in nature and have the potential ability to limit the development and severity of certain cancers and inflammatory diseases [6]. NF-κB, AP-1, NFATc1, cdk, uPA, MMP2, MMP9, NF-κB, Bax, caspase-3, caspase-8, Bcl-2, IAP, XIAP, cyclin B1, cyclin D, cdk, cdk, VEGF, MAPK, IL-1β, TNF-α, ICAM-1, JNK
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